Last week we went on vacation

Dan's family came into town last week, and then we all took a trip up North (which, to those of you not as familiar with Michigan vernacular, means somewhere away from the Detroit area.  In a northerly direction.)  Specifically, we went to the western coast of Michigan.  And, for some reason, I completely forgot my camera, so all pictures are courtesy Dan and his iphone.

The first day we drove up the Charlevoix, which is a very cute little town, right on the coast.  We walked around the downtown touristy area for awhile (well, after we went to the fabric store).  I got some awesome fabric.  I also found a book by one of my favorite authors, which is ALSO a novel with the same plot as a show Emily has watched on Netflix, based on fairytale characters.  Double squee.

We stayed for a couple days at Boyne Mountain, which is a ski resort in winter, and a fun place to hang with little kids in the summer.  There is a little private beach, where you can go boating, and there's a playground.  Friday night they had a magician and smore party, which we attended, and the kids had lots of fun at.

Saturday evening was Dan's cousin's wedding reception, in Traverse City.  The bride was beautiful, and they played Star Wars music when they had the wedding party come in.  And then throughout diner, they played other nerdy music, like one of the themes from Lord of the Rings.  Emily had a blast dancing with her cousins and eating cake.  William loved climbing the stairs.  Dan was on William chasing duty.

Sunday we went to church in Petoskey, thereby probably doubling their primary, and then had lunch at the beach by Lake Michigan.  The wind was cold off the lake, and the water was freezing when we dipped our toes, but it was gorgeous.

We went home from the picnic, while the rest of Dan's family went off to go camping for a couple days at a state park a little farther north.  We heard later that there were swarms of mosquitoes.  And this pregnant lady wasn't going to try to camp again until after the baby came (we went camping a month ago for Memorial Day).  Emily, though, was devestated at not getting to camp.  She'd been trying to convince me for the last couple weeks that we WERE going to camp, and I'd been letting her talk about it.  And then we didn't go camping, and she was very sad.

We stopped at a couple rest stops on the way home.  I packed some sandwiches and snacks to eat for dinner, and the kids were running around, feeding and chasing seagulls, and then chasing each other around the vending machine building, when William fell into a pole and split open his forehead.  There was an attendant at the rest stop who helped me get some gauze and such from the first-aid kit, and there was a hospital at the next exit down the freeway.  William ended up with 6 stitches.  Emily, who is very tender-hearted and can't bear to see William actually hurt, wouldn't look at him all the way home.

Now he's off to get them out, and they haven't seemed to bother him much.  He has a owie on his arm, which started as a couple mosquito bites, I think, which he's scratched at all the time and kept from healing very quickly.  So I was worried I would have to spend all week watching him like a hawk to keep him from tearing at the stitches.  But his forehead he's mostly left alone.

We had a great time on our vacation.  And while the time at the ER wasn't my favorite part, I wasn't too surprised.  Because Emily had stitches on her face, too, and William takes after his daddy.  Who had lots and lots of stitches on his head.  And still has some of the scars to prove it.